What gym routine should I be doing?

[Buggsy Mogues]

So I'm trying to lose about 20 lbs, and start to put on some lean muscle mass at the same time..but what routine should I be doing? I just joined up at the gym.. my first day I did the elliptical for a half hour then did some weights/resistance machines.

I know some people are gonna say skip the cardio alltogether, but I like to do that to get the blood flowing/heart pumping etc. I've got heart disease history in my family so I figure it don't hurt to get a little of that in.

Should I do that first, then hit the weights? Or weights first, then cardio? Does it even matter?

 

[-G$-]

what are you stats like?

height?
weight?
do you know approx what your bf%?

what's your experience in the gym like?

have you ever lifted weights before?

have you followed any routines consistently?

are you familiar w compounds lifts/form etc?

what is your diet like?

@MMSex

 

[Buggsy Mogues]

6-2, 220

nope

not sure what you mean by my experience in the gym? I haven't spent a lot of time in the gym. I have almost no experience using free weights. Mostly just cardio/resistence machines.

very little

not gym wise, I use to run a lot at the track.

No

Right now I'm doing a GNC Total Lean shake twice a day, snacking on stuff like veggies/almonds throughout the day, then having something like chicken and brown rice/veggie stir fry or fish for my main meal.

 

[-G$-]

as far the gym/weights/routines go, the 2 most popular beginner programs are probably starting strength or stronglifts. they both focus on compounds (which are the most important lifts to any routine imho) so you should research those. get very familiar w the form for all the lifts, talk to trainers/more experienced lifters at your gym if you're unsure, do research on the internet, watch vids online, ask questions here. you don't have to abandon your cardio but if you're really focused on putting on some muscle mass you're going to have to focus on the weights and excess cardio will take away from your recovery.

as far as your diet goes, you listed a bunch of "clean" foods but that doesn't tell us how much of those foods you consume in a day/week. start tracking your calories/macros and read the first few pages of this- http://www.the-coli.com/gym/223-~~~...ginners-overweight-obese~~~.html#.UYf-ckobZwQ thread to get an idea of the figures you should be targeting so your diet is also in line w your goals.

i'm not expert but that is at least some advice to start, i'm sure some of the more well versed gym posters will be in here at some point filling in the blanks.

 

[im12whatisthis]

Keep the cardio. Depending on the time you can spend at the gym you should probably start off on a 30-40 min weights/30 min cardio split.

Routine is really dependent on your goals. If you are pressed for time something simple like starting strength, stronglifts, and steve cook's college trainer would be good. Something like a stripped down version of PHAT could work you'd get slower strength gains but faster aesthetic gains. Upper/Lower and Push/Pull/Leg routines are all good. I prefer Upper/Lower over anything else these days.

Learn proper form and warm up correctly before hitting barbells and max effort lifts. Far too often I see potato heads load the bar up with max weights and hurt themselves without doing 3-4 warm up/load testing sets.

 

[MMS]

as soon as you can quantify what youre eating, youll start losing.

just track it, it gets easy especially if you eat the same things all the time

realistically about the lifting, you just need to lift hard. for reps/strength isnt all that big a deal to me. Just need to lift regularly and get good sleep.

losing the weight(more specifically fat) just comes from staying in a consistent deficit